Home Diagnostic Sleep Study
What is it?
A Home Diagnostic Sleep Study is a 12-channel monitoring device which monitors and records your sleeping patterns, breathing rate, oxygen levels, heart rate and effort signals for one individual night.
The Sleep Study is completed in the comfort of your own home, that way your normal sleeping patterns can remain the same, which helps to achieve a better reading from your study.
For Clinicians
We offer portable domiciliary sleep studies, which are performed in the comfort of the patients own home. This allows the patient to maintain their natural sleep patterns.
This method of sleep screening provides early upper airway and obstructive sleep apnoea detection, ECG, EOG, Overnight oxygen saturation levels and a general overview of the quality of a patients sleep.
For Patients
Your doctor can refer you to us for a Home Diagnostic Sleep Study. This is an overnight Sleep Apnoea Study which is performed in the comfort of your own home.
Our sleep technicians will provide you the equipment, a demonstration, and written instructions for carrying out the study.
Please see below for the procedure of a sleep study.
Step 1
Go and see your GP and ask for a referral for a Home Sleep Study.
Once we have received the referral, this will be triaged. We will make contact with you as soon as possible to get further information and book an appointment.
Step 2
When you come in for the appointment, one of our clinician's will show you how the equipment is to be set up and give you instructions on how to wear it. You will then take the equipment home with you and set it up on yourself that night as instructed.(The device is programmed for one night only. You must wear it the night you take it home.)
Step 3
The next day you will drop the equipment back to the clinic you picked it up from OR to a location, made by your clinician, at your appointment*.
Step 4
Once we have received the equipment back, we will download the data and send it away to be scored by a registered polysomnographic technologist (Scorer) and then to a Sleep Specialist who will report on the study. It may take up to 3 weeks for the results to come back.
step 5
The final results will be sent to your referring GP, and we will also advise you.
What is Sleep Apnoea?
Sleep Apnoea is a common sleep disorder characterised by abnormally low breathing or lengthy paused breathing during sleep.
Each pause in breathing, called an 'Apnoea', can last from a few seconds to a few minutes and may occur between 5 times or more an hour. Apnoea's are usually referred to as the time period you stop breathing during your sleep.
An Apnoea occurs when sleep is usually disrupted due to inadequate breath intake and poor oxygen levels in the blood. Sometimes this means you may wake up entirely, but more often it means coming out of a deep level of sleep and into a more shallow level of sleep.
Suffering from low oxygen levels overnight and frequently arousing from deep sleep are detrimental to your health.
Who Sleep Apnoea Affects
Sleep apnoea can affect anyone from all ages, genders and health levels.
It is more commonly found in overweight persons, those who have a family history of sleep apnoea, persons who have high blood pressure/ Heart disease or persons who have had a stroke.
Untreated Sleep Apnoea
Untreated Sleep Apnoea can lead to sleep deprivation caused from constant nightly interruptions, and a shallow level of sleep. Sleep deprivation can affect a person not just physically but emotionally and mentally as well.
Untreated sleep apnoea can also lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular issues such as heart failure/ heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure or a cardiac arrest.
While untreated sleep apnoea can lead to major health issues, it is also an underlying cause of car accidents, work-related accidents (due to health concerns), low productivity, and weight gain.
Symptoms of Sleep Apnoea:
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Constant Fatigue (Even After a Good Nights Sleep)
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High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)
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Heart Attack
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Stroke
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Atrial Fibrillation
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Obesity & Weight Gain
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Epilepsy
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COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)
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Diabetes
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Depression
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Night Sweats
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Poor Memory/ Forgetfulness
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Sexual Disfunction
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Asthma
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Emphysema
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Glaucoma
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Restless Legs
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Teeth Grinding
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Nasal Congestion
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Neuromuscular Disorders
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Hay fever/ Sinus
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Gastric Reflux
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Increased Alcohol Intake
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Weakened Immune System
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Liver Complications
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Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease
